He crashed into the back of Kimi Raikonnen early on, damaging his front wing and picking up a five second stop-go penalty for his troubles.

Magnussen offered no excuses, rather a heartfelt apology for what McLaren racing director Eric Boullier called a “rookie’s rite of passage”.

“I’m sorry for the team that I messed things up,” said Magnussen. But the Dane’s time to move on comes quickly with the F1 circus heading to the burning sands of Bahrain this weekend – which suits him just fine.

Magnussen added: “I’ll learn from this and see what I can do at the next one. It’ll feel good to put this one behind me, and move on.”

The Bahrain Grand Prix is this year celebrating its 10th anniversary since debuting in 2004, although heightening political tensions meant it was scrapped for 2011.

That’s matched by another milestone, this one closer to home, as Button – in contrast to his youthful teammate – will be entering his 250th race.

The Briton is optimistic that the longer straights and slower corners at the Sakhir circuit and hardwork of engineers in Woking will push McLaren up the field.

He said: “There’s no getting away from the fact that we’re still weak in the high-speed corners – this car does have its strengths but we’ve got a lot of work to do.

“I also want to say a big ‘thanks’ to everyone back at the McLaren Technology Centre for working so hard to bring the updates to the track.

“Every little helps.”

The Bahrain spectacle will be under floodlights for the first time as the F1 hierarchy look to put on a show in the oil-rich desert.

For McLaren, fans will be hoping their first race form wasn’t a mirage and Button and Magnussen will be bathing in an oasis of success and champagne come Sunday evening.